Fusiliers, _s._ of Thomas Ballantyne; _b._ Dunston-on-Tyne,
28 Feb. 1886; educ. St. Dominic’s Schools, Newcastle-on-Tyne; joined
the 5th Battn. Northumberland Fusiliers, 22 June, 1905, and re-enlisted
2 Aug. 1908. On the outbreak of war he was drafted to the 1st Battn. at
the Front, and was killed in action at Neuve Chapelle, 1 March, 1915.
He _m._ at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 6 June, 1906, Margaret Nathans (44,
Byron Terrace, Shieldfield, Newcastle), dau. of C. H. Dagg, and had
issue two sons and two daus.: Thomas Hubert, _b._ 28 Jan. 1907;
Edward, _b._ 3 Nov. 1912; Sarah Elizabeth, _b._ 16 Aug. 1910;
and Margaret Alina, _b._ 12 Dec. 1914. Private Ballantyne held
several certificates for service.
[Illustration: =Thomas Ballantyne.=]
=BALLARD, CHARLES FREDERICK=, Commander, R.N., yr. _s._ of
the late Lieut.-Col. John Fane Ballard, Duke of Cornwall’s L.I., by his
wife, Mary (The Grove, Kingston Blount, Oxford), dau. of Arthur Henry
Clerke Brown, of Kingston Blount, Oxford; _b._ Rock, Washington,
co. Sussex, 23 March, 1879; educ. Herbert Bull’s, Westgate-on-Sea,
and Littlejohn’s, Blackheath. Joined the Britannia in 1892, passing
in eighth; became Midshipman, Jan. 1895; Sub-Lieut., July, 1898;
Lieut., Nov. 1900, and Commander, June, 1913. Served in China, 1900, as
Sub-Lieut. on the Aurora, and was present at the taking of Tientsin,
being mentioned in Despatches and specially promoted. He was appointed
to the Formidable in Aug. 1913, and was lost in that vessel 1 Jan.
1915. Commander Ballard was last seen on the bridge of the Formidable
with Capt. Loxley. He had previously superintended getting the boats
out, and had ordered as much wood as possible to be thrown overboard
for the men to cling to. A survivor narrates that he met the Commander,
who told him to tell everybody to keep cool. He then gave the command
to get the boats out. He _m._ at St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington, 15
July, 1913, Violet Hazel, dau. of Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, K.C.B.,
K.C.M.G., and had one dau., Margaret Charley, _b._ 29 Dec. 1914.
[Illustration: =Charles Frederick Ballard.=]
=BALMAIN, JOHN=, Officer’s Steward, 3rd Class, L. 4470, H.M.S.
Pathfinder; lost when that ship was sunk by a mine, about 20 miles off
the East Coast, 5 Sept. 1914.
=BAMFORD, EDWIN SCOTT=, Capt. and Adjutant, 1st Battn. York
and Lancaster Regt., yst. _s._ of the late Arthur Bamford, of
Misterton Hall, Lutterworth, by his wife, Annie (who re-_m._
Capt. the Hon. Harold Brooke Hawke), dau. of John Nash, of Chicago;
_b._ Bromborough, co. Chester, 23 April, 1885; educ. Uppingham
and afterwards in Switzerland, and joined the 3rd (Militia) Battn.
Leicestershire Regt., from which he passed into the York and Lancaster
Regt. 6 July, 1907, becoming Lieut. 1 Feb. 1909. In that year he
passed the Signalling Course at Poona, and obtained a certificate for
Field Telephoning; in 1911 he took the Musketry and Machine Gun Course
at Satara, and in 1912 the Physical Training and Swordsmanship at
Poona, where he was Gymnastic Superintendent for eight months, serving
altogether seven years (1908–14) in India. On 12 March, 1913, he was
appointed Adjutant of his battn. with which he joined the Expeditionary
Force in France in Jan. 1915. He had been promoted Capt. 5 Sept.
1914, and was mortally wounded in action on his birthday, 23 April,
1915, during a charge at the second Battle of Ypres, and _d._
at the Poperinghe Clearing Station the following day. The following
abbreviated account of the circumstances attending his death was
received from a brother officer: “On the morning of April 22 the battn.
was resting--the men playing football--when the French troops came
hurrying back completely overcome by asphyxiating gases. Immediately,
on their own initiative without any command, our men fell in and moved
off by companies from trenches near St. Jean, with fixed bayonets,
across open country in broad daylight, with only two guns to support
them, to fill in the gap left by the French, which the Canadians were
unable to protect with their flank. They made the attack through a
hail-storm of high velocity shell fire and machine guns at short
range, which nearly wiped out the whole battn., leaving 300 out of the
original 1,200. In spite of the heavy casualties, they pushed on, as a
Canadian officer remarked: ‘As if they were on parade,’ and eventually
reached a field which was under still heavier fire. At the top of
the field was a hedge on which the enemy’s fire was concentrated;
very few of the battn. got past it. It was here that the Colonel was
killed outright and Capt. Bamford, having done magnificent work during
the whole attack, was mortally wounded. Some days after, Gen. Plumer
came to see the few survivors and congratulated them on their gallant
attack. Had it not been made the Germans would have broken through. To
use the General’s own words: ‘They had saved the situation.’” Capt.
Bamford was a keen sportsman and a first-class shot. He _m._
London, 1 Jan. 1913, Lulu, only dau. of the late Edwin Whitney Smith,
of Bath; _s.p._
[Illustration: =Edwin Scott Bamford.=]
=BAMPTON, WILLIAM=, 2nd Ship’s Steward, 347283, H.M.S. Cressy;
lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=BANBURY, CHARLES WILLIAM=, Capt., Coldstream Guards, only
_s._ of the Rt. Hon. Sir Frederick George Banbury, of Warnford
Place, Highworth, co. Wilts., 1st Bt., M.P. for the City of London, by
his wife, Elizabeth Rose, dau. and co-heir of the late Thomas Barbot
Beale, of Brettenham Park, co. Suffolk; _b._ 19, Grosvenor Street,
London, W., 11 Feb. 1877; educ. Eton and University College, Oxford;
gazetted to the Coldstream Guards, 9 Aug. 1899, and promoted Lieut. 16
Feb. 1901, and Capt. 27 March, 1909. He served in the South African
War, receiving the Queen’s medal with three clasps, and the King’s
medal with two clasps. From March, 1909–Aug. 1910, he served as A.D.C.
to the General Officer Commanding 1st Division, Aldershot Command, and
from March, 1912, to the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern
Command. He _d._ at Soupir, near Soissons, 16 Sept., 1914, from
wounds received in the Battle of the Aisne two days previously, and
was buried at Soupir. He _m._ at the Guards’ Chapel, 29 April,
1913, Joseph Marguerite (Wadley Manor, Faringdon, Berks), dau. of Jose
Reixach, and had a son and a daughter: Charles William, _b._ 18
May, 1915, and Mary Heritage, _b._ 28 March, 1914. Capt. Banbury
won the Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown, riding Capt. Christie
Miller’s Sprinkle Me two years in succession, 1909 and 1910, and also
the Grand International Steeplechase on the same. He won the Aldershot
Gold Cup, and the United Service Hunter’s Cup both twice on horse Noble
Roy, and the Coldstream Plate twice (1903 and 1904) on his own horse
Casino, and once (1911) on Noble Roy, besides many other races. He
rowed in the University College four and in the eight, and played polo
for the Coldstream Guards.
[Illustration: =Charles William Banbury.=]
=BANFIELD, GEORGE=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., B. 4170), S.S.
102835, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost in the action off Coronel, on the coast
of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=BANKES, EDWARD NUGENT=, Capt., 3rd Battn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers,
5th and yst. _s._ of the late Henry Hyde Nugent Bankes, of
Wraysbury, co. Bucks, by his wife, the Hon. Lalagé, née Vivian, dau.
of Richard Hussey, 1st Lord Vivian, P.C., G.C.B., and grandson of the
Right. Hon. George Bankes, of Kingston Hall, Dorset, M.P.; _b._
Wraysbury, 3 Oct. 1875; educ. Charterhouse. During the South African
War he served in the ranks with Lumsden’s Horse, and was afterwards
employed with Imperial Yeomanry; took part in the operations in the
Orange Free State and Transvaal, May, 1900, including action near
Johannesburg, and in those in the Transvaal, March, 1901, to Jan. 1902,
and was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 20 Aug. 1901], and
awarded the Queen’s medal with five clasps. He was given a commission
as 2nd Lieut. in the 2nd Dragoon Guards (the Queen’s Bays), 25 Dec.
1901; became Lieut. 25 Dec. 1902, and Capt. 12 Sept. 1908, and was
Remount Officer in South Africa, 29 Sept. 1905, to 12 March, 1907,
and Staff Officer there, 13 March, 1907. He retired 4 Dec. 1912, and
joined the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battn. of the Dublin Fusiliers. On
the outbreak of the European War he was called up, and joined the 2nd
Battn. in France on 16 March, 1915, and was killed in action near St.
Julien, 26 April following. He was buried close to a farm about 500
yards on the Ypres side of St. Julien. His commanding officer wrote:
“He came safely through our big action of 25 April against the village
of St. Julien, some 3 miles north of Ypres. He was with me throughout
the day of the 25th, while we dug in on the ground gained on that day.
I left him in command of the battn. on the night of the 25th, as I
was slightly wounded myself. He was instantaneously killed by a rifle
bullet on April 26th, during an attack made by another Brigade sent up
to our assistance. He behaved with the greatest gallantry on 25 April,
leading his men all the time.” He _m._ at Pietermaritzburg, Natal,
19 Feb. 1906, Lettice Adelaide, eldest dau. of Charles Wriothesley
Digby, of Meriden Hall, near Coventry [great-great-great-grandson of
William, 5th Lord Digby], and had issue a son and two daus.: John Digby
Hyde, _b._ 16 Nov. 1906; Adelaide Margery Dora, _b._ 21 Feb.
1908; and Lettice Monica, _b._ 12 April, 1909.
[Illustration: =Edward Nugent Bankes.=]
=BANKS, FRED LAKEMAN=, Corpl., No. 370, 5th Battn. (London Rifle
Brigade) The London Regt., 2nd _s._ of Frederick Seymour Banks, of
4, St. John Street, Bedford Row, W.C., Commission Agent, by his wife,
Elizabeth, dau. of (--) Belsham; _b._ Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh
Square, London, 20 Jan. 1874; educ. Whitgift Grammar School, and on
leaving school entered his father’s business. He joined the London
Rifle Brigade in 1892, and served all through the South African War
in the C.I.V. Mounted Infantry, receiving the medal with four bars.
On the outbreak of the European War he rejoined the Brigade with his
old schoolfellow, J. L. Hampton, and arrived in the trenches about the
middle of November. He was shot and died on 13 May 1915, near Ypres.
Writing to his parents, the officer commanding his company stated that
Hampton (who met his death ten days before Banks did) and he well
helped to maintain a fine tradition by their spirit and experience,
and that it was almost impossible to write any sort of appreciation of
what those two men were to their company. They many times gave their
officer comfort and courage in difficult times, and he adds, “When we
get into the tight places again I know that many of us who had been
taught by him will think of Freddy Banks and his cheery confidence, and
take courage.” On more than one occasion he was offered a commission,
but preferred to remain in the ranks alongside his comrades. At the
Whitgift Grammar School athletic sports he won the mile on three
occasions, 1889, 1890 and 1891. A fourth win was obtained in 1893
when he secured the Old Boys’ mile. He joined the Cadet Corps, and
won the Spencer Cup for the champion shot of the Public Schools at
Bisley in 1891, scoring 33 out of a possible 35 at 500 yards. He also
won the Easty silver medal. He won the Whitgift Veterans in 1896. In
1892 he made a brave attempt to rescue a boy who had fallen into the
river at Rainham. He was competing for his Regimental Bronze Badge at
the time, and was waiting his turn to fire, when he plunged into the
river and, after diving repeatedly, recovered the lifeless body of the
boy. He afterwards resumed his shooting, and obtained second place,
being beaten by only one point. He received the Royal Humane Society’s
certificate on vellum and a bronze medal, being also complimented by
Lord E. Pelham Clinton (at an inspection by the Duke of Cambridge) on
his deed. Corpl. Banks won the D Coy. Waldegrave Challenge Cup three
times, when it became his, as also did the Moger Cup similarly thrice
won. He shot in the winning team for the “Daily Telegraph” Cup in 1897
and 1898. On his return from the South African War the late Sir Walter
Gilbey, Bt., presented him with a massive silver cup “as a token in
appreciation of services rendered to his country.”
=BANKS, GEORGE EDWARD=, Stoker, P.O., 287551, H.M.S. Pathfinder;
lost when that ship was sunk by a mine, about 20 miles off the East
Coast, 5 Sept. 1914.
=BANKS, PERCY D’AGUILAR=, Capt., Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of
Guides, attd. 57th Wildes Rifles, only _s._ of Col. Samuel Henry
O’Brien Banks, of 9, Eaton Place, Brighton, by his wife, Katherine
Rosa, dau. of the Rev. John Burton D’Aguilar, late Senr. Chaplain of
H.M. Forces; _b._ Bath, 9 May, 1885; educ. St. Peter’s, Weston,
and Cheltenham College and Sandhurst; gazetted 2nd Lieut. 2nd Battn.
Wiltshire Regt., 10 Oct. 1903; joined 16 Nov. following, and left for
India to join the 1st battn. in April, 1904. He was appointed to the
Guides the following year; promoted Lieut. 10 Jan. 1906, and Capt.
10 Oct. 1912. He was A.D.C. to the Hon. A. D. Younghusband, C.S.I.,
Commissioner in Sind during the visit of the King, then Prince of
Wales, to India in 1906, and afterwards served as transport officer
with the Chitral Relief Force in Aug. 1907. He was killed 26 April,
1915, during the second Battle of Ypres only 50 yards from the German
lines; _unm._ On this day Wilde’s Rifles were in the front line
of the Ferozepore Brigade. Capt. Banks’ double company guides formed
centre, and he, the only English officer, led them. The position
to be assaulted was an extremely strong one, and the assaulting
force laboured under heavy disadvantages. It had been impossible to
reconnoitre the ground in a satisfactory manner, and little was known
of the exact position of the German line beyond the fact that it
was somewhere on the opposite ridge about 1,500 yards distance. The
ground was devoid of cover, and rose slightly for the first 500 yards,
then dipped and ended in a gradual upward slope towards the German
position which commanded the whole line of advance. On crossing the
first ridge the regt. came under an absolute tornado of fire of every
description--shrapnel, machine-gun, rifle, and, last but not least,
high explosive shells filled with asphyxiating gas. From this point
onwards the men began to fall rapidly, but still the gallant regt.
pushed on. The murderous nature of the fire can be gauged by the fact
that when the bottom of the slope was reached, at a point some 900
yards from the start, the Commanding Officer, Major Willams, and four
of his colleagues had been severely wounded. Still the attack was
pressed to a point about 80 yards from the German trenches. Here Major
Duhan, Capt. Mackie and Capt. Banks were all killed, as were also two
of the Indian officers. Capt. Banks’ orderly, a Sikh named Bhan Singh,
had been severely wounded in the face early in the action. In spite of
this he insisted in following Capt. Banks till he was killed. As soon
as darkness set in, in the face of the appalling fire, and severely
wounded as he was, his one thought was to bring back the body of his
officer. Weak as he was from loss of blood, he staggered along carrying
the body until he fell from exhaustion. They were both brought in,
and Capt. Banks was buried near a farm house two miles north-east of
Ypres. For this act of devotion and gallantry Bhan Singh received the
Indian D.S.M. and later a Russian decoration. Col. Egerton wrote: “We
were all very fond of him in the Guides, and he had a great many other
friends besides who will feel his loss very keenly I am sure. His men
were also very fond of him, and were following him bravely when he
fell. His name was, of course, brought to notice by Col. Gray, and
I was proud and glad to endorse his mention, and I know that it was
passed on by the next higher authority, the Divisional Commander.” A
brother officer also wrote: “Many of the Eusafzai Pathans who were with
him, and actually in the advance in which he was killed, are back here
wounded or invalided, and I have spoken to many of them, the Subadar,
one Afzal Khan, in particular. The very genuine love they had for him
and their admiration for his great personal pluck and power as a leader
is apparent in everything they say about him, and the Subadar broke
down altogether when telling me of him. He says that not the smallest
detail relating to the men’s comfort was overlooked, and that in fact
they really had a father to command them. I’ve never seen any native
express such genuine sorrow at the loss of one of their sahibs.” Capt.
Banks was mentioned for conspicuous bravery in F.M. Sir John (now Lord)
French’s despatch of Jan. 1, 1916. He was a good all-round athlete and
sportsman. At Cheltenham he won the school rackets and fives, and he
was in the eleven both there and at Sandhurst. After making a score of
131 for the Somerset Colts, he played for the Somerset County Eleven.
He also played cricket for the Army against the Rest at Lahore in 1904.
A fine polo player, he twice in 1913 led the Guides to victory, and
also the same year took part in a tour in Germany, playing for the
Frankfurt team, which won three events--the Challenge Cup, Champion
Cup, and Ladies’ Cup.
[Illustration: =Percy D’Aguilar Banks.=]
=BANNAN, JAMES CHARLES=, Private, No. 79897, 31st Battn. Canadian
Expeditionary Force, _s._ of Joseph Cope Bannan, of Kilkenny,
Ireland, ex-Sergt. Royal Irish Constabulary, by his wife, Mary, dau.
of Edward McElveny, ex-Insp. M.D. Police; _b._ Kilkenny, 24 Feb.
1894; educ. Model National School there. Went to Canada 10 March, 1913,
and after the outbreak of war enlisted at Calgary in Oct. 1914; came
over with the 2nd Canadian Contingent; went to France 14 Sept. 1915,
and was shot by a sniper 6 Nov. 1915; _unm._
=BANNER, FREDERICK SIDNEY=, Private, No. 2515, 10th Battn.
(Liverpool Scottish) The King’s Liverpool Regt. (Gun Section),
eldest _s._ of William Banner, of 113, Bridge Road, Litherland,
Liverpool, by his wife, Emma, dau. of the late Thomas Oswald Rudge;
_b._ Litherland, near Liverpool; educ. at St. Philip’s and
afterwards at Seaforth High School; enlisted 1912; killed in action at
Ypres, 1 April, 1915; _unm._ Buried in an enclosed burial ground
700 yards west of Verbranden Molen.
=BANNER, JOSIAH=, Private, No. 4138, 3rd Battn. Coldstream
Guards, _s._ of William Banner, of Birmingham, Wheelwright, by
his wife, Elizabeth, dau. of (--) Herbert; _b._ Birmingham, 29
Oct. 1879; educ. at St. Anne’s Boys’ School, Duddeston, Birmingham;
enlisted in the Coldstream Guards, 12 March, 1901, and served in Egypt,
Sept. 1906–Jan. 1909, and with the Expeditionary Force in France and
Flanders 1914, and was killed in action at St. Julien, 3 Nov. 1914.
He is believed to have been buried in the Rentel Woods, close to St.
Julien. He _m._ at Birmingham, 24 April, 1909, Bertha Elizabeth
Charlotte Sophia (4, County Terrace, Pears Road, Hounslow), dau. of
James Kingston Merrick, of Hounslow, and had two sons, Joseph James,
_b._ 29 April, 1910, and William Albert Kingston, _b._ 26
Oct. 1913.
[Illustration: =Josiah Banner.=]
=BANNER, SYDNEY ALFRED=, Private, No. 1501, 13th Battn. Australian
Imperial Force, _s._ of Alfred James Banner, of 17, Francis Road,
Hay Hill, Birmingham; _b._ Small Heath, Birmingham, 25 Nov. 1893;
educ. at the Red Hill Road Board School there; went to Australia;
enlisted towards the end of 1914; killed in action at the Dardanelles
during a night attack, 2 May, 1915; _unm._
[Illustration: =Sydney Alfred Banner.=]
=BANNERMAN, ORIEL WILLIAM ERSKINE=, Capt., 15th Lancers
(Cureton’s Mulatnis), Indian Army, 2nd _s._ of the late Gen.
William Bannerman, C.B., 104th Wellesley’s Rifles [great-grandson
of Sir Patrick Bannerman, 3rd _s._ of Sir Alexander Bannerman,
of Elsick, 1st Bt.], by his wife, Louisa Constance (6, Lansdowne
Crescent, Cheltenham), dau. of Robert Goddard, of Monkstown; _b._
Bombay, 13 Dec. 1877; educ. Cheltenham College and Sandhurst; joined
the Indian Army, 27 July, 1898, was promoted Lieut. 27 Oct. 1900, and
Capt. 27 July, 1907, and from Oct. 1903–07 was A.D.C. to Major-Gen. G.
Henry, Divn. Commander at Meerut. He was severely wounded in action
at Givenchy, 20 Dec. 1914, and _d._ in hospital at Boulogne, 3
Feb. following. He was buried in the cemetery there. He _m._ at
Mussoorie, 14 Sept. 1907, Emilie Henriette, 2nd dau. of the late Capt.
Charles Lousada, of Shelburne Hall, Cheltenham; _s.p._
[Illustration: =Oriel William Erskine Bannerman.=]
=BANNING, PERCY STUART=, Capt., 2nd Battn. Royal Munster
Fusiliers, only child of Lieut.-Col. Stephen Thomas Banning, of 50,
Kensington Mansions, Earl’s Court, LL.D., late Royal Munster Fusiliers,
by his wife, Isabel Margaret, dau. of the late Rev. Denis Moriarty;
_b._ at Yorktown, co. Surrey, 22 June, 1887; educ. Westward Ho!
Bath College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and received his
commission in the Munsters, 19 Sept. 1908, being gazetted Lieut. 19
March, 1910, and Capt. (posthumously), 30 Aug. 1914. He went to the
front with the first Expeditionary Force as battn. transport officer,
and was killed in action at Ypres, Belgium, 4 Nov. 1914, while attached
to Sir Douglas Haig’s staff. Capt. Banning was an all-round athlete
and a good cross-country runner. While at Sandhurst he won the two
miles in the Woolwich and Sandhurst Sports in record time. He was also
a first-rate horseman, and won the point-to-point race at the Mounted
Infantry School in Jan. 1911. He _m._ 25 March, 1913, Mona Mary,
only dau. of the late Alfred Chaplin, of Henfield, Sussex; _s.p._
[Illustration: =Percy Stuart Banning.=]
=BANON, HAROLD OLIVER=, Private, No. 77982, 7th (British Columbia)
Battn. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 3rd _s._ of Capt. A. T.
Banon, of the Manali Orchards, Kulu, Punjab, India, late Bengal Staff
Corps; _b._ Manali, Kulu, afsd., 2 June, 1890; went to Canada,
1 March, 1910; volunteered from the Canadian Naval Volunteers,
and enlisted after the outbreak of war; came over with the second
contingent, 14 Feb. 1915; went to France, 29 April, 1915, and was
killed by a shell in the trenches near Petit-pond, Ploegsteert, near
Messines, 19 Oct. 1915; _unm._ Buried at the Canadian Cemetery,
Chateau Rosenberg. He was wounded on 23 May, 1915, at Festubert when
60 men volunteered to attack the Germans with bombs. Of these 58 were
killed or wounded, and only two returned unwounded. Capt. W. Holmes,
who led the party, got the Military Cross for leading on this occasion.
[Illustration: =Harold Oliver Banon.=]
=BARBER, ALFRED EDWARD=, A.B. (R.F.R., 8817), 205320, H.M.S.
Aboukir; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.